A SERIOUS MISFORTUNE 251and the two sets of double canoes were let down byropes, one of one couple being swamped, but rescued,and brought safely to shore on each occasion. One ofthe men was upset while working in the swift water,and his face was cut against the stones. Lyra andKermit did the actual work with the camaradas.Kermit, dressed practically like the camaradas them¬selves, worked in the water, and, as the overhangingbranches were thronged with crowds of biting andstinging ants, he was marked and blistered over hiswhole body. Indeed, we all suffered more or less fromthese ants ; while the swarms of biting flies grew con¬stantly more numerous. The termites ate holes in myhelmet, and also in the cover of my cot. Everyone elsehad a hammock. At this camp we had come downthe river about 102 kilometres, according to thesurveying records, and in height had descended nearly100 metres, as shown by the aneroid—although thefigure in this case is only an approximation, as ananeroid cannot be depended on for absolute accuracy ofresults. Next morning we found that, during the night wehad met with a serious misfortune. We had halted atthe foot of the rapids. The canoes were moored totrees on the bank, at the tail of the broken water.The two old canoes, although one of them was ourbiggest cargo-carrier, were water-logged and heavy, andone of them was leaking. In the night the river rose.The leaky canoe, which at best was too low in thewater, must have gradually filled from the wash of thewaves. It sank, dragging down the other ; they beganto roll, bursting their moorings; and in the morningthey had disappeared. A canoe was launched to lookfor them ; but, rolling over the boulders on the rocky